At a summer public meeting, we held a vote of all volunteers, to find the person we thought should open our community library.  The vote for Brian Kibble was unanimous.  He is custodian and curator of the Anstey photographic archive and a much-liked and respected local figure.  We could not have been more pleased when he accepted the invitation.

Brian gave a fascinating and informative talk about his life in Anstey – how he was born at “three different addresses,” just metres away from where our library now stands.  He brought with him an old printing block from his days at the Anstey printworks, and spoke of his love of physical books and the important part the library plays in the local community.

Brian presented a generous cheque to Phil from a very kind benefactor, who wished to remain anonymous, to whom we are extremely grateful. 

Brian is such a star guest that he even brought his own scissors (“because I’m left handed” he explained)

Afterwards, Brian stayed quite a while, showing volunteers and residents pictures from the Anstey Archive and answering questions such as, “is it true a river used to run through the park?” (it is).  Apparently you can still hear water running under Staddon Road. 

Brian has given the Library team an electronic copy of all of the old photographs of Anstey – we very much hope to get them up on display shortly, and look forward to welcoming Brian back soon.